Developing a high performance mindset
I almost didn’t get on the start line for this race.
I almost let my mental chatter talk me out of doing this race, and missed an important lesson in the art of developing a high performance mindset.
I WANTED to race. But I’ve never done it before so all the fears and what if’s came flooding in.
I was sitting on the sidelines thinking "I'm not fit enough... I've never raced in a bunch.. I haven't ever ridden this course.. I haven't ridden all week.. what if I crash.."
All the excuses were coming out.
But I'm a big believer in practice what you preach - there is no perfect place to start, the only way to grow is to put yourself out there, challenge your norms and get out of comfort zones and give it a go without worrying about the outcome.
So I took a deep breath, put a number on my bike and rolled over to the start line to give it a go and see what came of my first crit race.
Why develop a high performance mindset?
It’s a funny thing our thoughts.
We have all these goals and things that we WANT to do. But at the same time, there is so often this internal conflict and negative thoughts or feelings that can be holding us back and self-sabotaging from achieving those goals.
Which is why it is so important to be aware of our mindset and understand the link between our thoughts, actions and results.
What’s stopping you?
I’ve spoken before about the value of asking the question ‘what’s stopping you?” when it comes to taking action and moving forward towards our goals - be that in relation to exercise, nutrition or body composition.
It’s frustrating to admit, but often the answer is within our thoughts, our attitude and our mindset.
Developing a high performance mindset is a process
In my opinion, building and strengthening a high performance mindset is a key skill that everyone can benefit from.
But like how our muscles don’t get strong just from one session at the gym, a high performance mindset is a mental muscle that we can strengthen and develop with time and intentionality.
Part of the process of developing a high performance mindset and taking positive steps towards our goals is embracing the suck of that negative chatter, coaching ourselves about WHY we actually want to to do the thing that scares us.
Then going and doing it despite of everything else that’s going on.
How does a high performance mindset influence nutrition?
A common theme I observe amongst the cyclists I work with is that they already KNOW many of the things they could be doing better when it comes to their nutrition.
But they aren’t doing them.
Part of what I love about my job as a sports dietitian and the approach that I use with nutrition coaching is to help my clients to identify self-sabotaging thoughts that are holding them back from their nutritional goals.
By strengthen their performance mindset, fuelling their cycling training appropriately and putting appropriate nutrition strategies in place, we can quickly get them moving in the right direction towards their goals so they achieve them for good.
It’s not a quick fix, it doesn’t happen overnight but it makes such a big difference when you accumulate the results over time.
It’s a journey, not a destination
In regards to my fears about crit racing?
It turns out all those people who have told me over the years that I'd like crit racing might be right.
I’m a beginner still for sure, but if I hadn’t pushed through that negative chatter and given it a go with no agenda I wouldn’t have been on the podium at my first women's C grade crit race.
I’m looking forward to learning more about the art of crit racing and applying it to a high performance mindset and sports nutrition for cyclists.
Until next time,
Gemma
Fuel your cycling with confidence
Do you want to know how best to fuel your training sessions? Are you keen to lose weight and optimise your performance?